The Men of the BBC

“I’m not hung up about Darcy. I do not sit at home with the pause button on Colin Firth in clingy pants, okay? I love the love story. I love Elizabeth. I love the manners and language and the courtesy. It’s become part of who I am and what I want. I’m saying that I have standards.” — Amanda, Lost in Austen

The men of the BBC make me melt. Maybe it’s their propriety or the way women are seen through their eyes that I find myself missing in my everyday life. The exchanging of glances across a crowded room and a light hand reaching out to touch the other’s for an instant can even been seen as too much. In this day and age, it’s hard to imagine a time when any man or woman would hold back.

Elliot Cowan got my attention in Lost in Austen. Amanda, a lover of all things Austen, finds herself swapping her present day life in London with Elizabeth Bennett’s estate of Longbourn. Clumsily walking through Pride and Prejudice society, she must find her way back home without destroying the best love story ever told. With her modern day language and clothing it’s very hard for attention not to be made to her, but the longer she stays the more the characters of Pride and Prejudice become a part of her — and she a part of them. The biggest question she must face: Can she go back to her real life when her heart has already been given away to the leading man?

Rupert Penry-Jones, now a full time actor on MI-5, is best known to me as his portrayal of Captain Wentworth in the Jane Austen classic Persuasion  (acting opposite Anne Elliott as played by Sally Hawkins, best known for her role in the movie Happy-Go-Lucky). As a young woman, Anne Elliott fell in love and was to be in engaged with Fredrick Wentworth, a young naval officer, but her parents convinced her it was a foolish idea and an inappropriate match. She gave into their ideals and regretted it ever since. Eight years go by and Fredrick returns, now “Captain Wentworth” and successful in both his career and wealth. Although he has his eyes on another young woman, Anne can only hope he forgive her for her once foolish decision and see how much they still care for one another.

Richard Armitage, who plays the ruthless Guy of Gisborne in the BBC series Robin Hood, shines more handsomely in North and South playing John Thornton. When Margaret Hale’s family is sent from the pristine English South to the Northern rugged mill town of Milton, a different world is presented to her. Mill owner John Thornton struggles to keep his mill functional and profitable while also being supportive  with his employees. He turns to Margaret’s father as a mentor, and Mr. Hale takes to John right away although Margaret continues to see him as abrasive. As the world around these two characters begins to change so do their harsh views of one another.

Read how this other Shelf Talker found her way to Jane Austen due to the charms of not just any Mr. Darcy. – ed.